USA Holiday 2, October 06 (SoCal)

Took the train/trolley thing across to Old Town - the train system is pretty similar to Boston in terms of size and coverage, and seems quite efficient. Old Town is as the name suggests, a small town which has either been recreated or maintained in the old Mexican/Western style. It was pretty well done actually, they had stables, blacksmith, a saloon, pretty much what you see if you've played Red Dead Redemption.

Where pavement and traffic lights seamlessly meets Olde Town.

A church perhaps.

Definitely not a church.

Gonna use oil-based paint, 'cause the wood is pine.

Took the next train further out of the city, past Qualcomm Stadium (wow, they have a regular train station *at* the stadium) and stopped off at Mission San Diego. It's similar to the missions I've seen before in San Antonio, so didn't stay for long. Westfield Mission Valley was nearby, which is possibly the worst designed mall / shopping centre ever. Basically there's just a bunch of those mega stores each with their own car parks you have to walk through, and collectively they call that a Westfield. That is until you finally find the proper mall part hidden through and behind the Target. Good thing I found it too because they had an Anime/Mange store, a Comic Book/Sports Cards store (maybe this is why Comic-Con is held in San Diego) and self serve yoghurt store. Finally I found some stores I could buy things from.

Mission SD.

Back to San Diego after that and just enough time to visit the USS Midway, a former naval ship. It's the usual thing where you get your headset for a self-serve guided tour, only this time you're trying to crawl in, through and out of the lower levels of a ship. The space they save with this kind of design must surely be outweighed by the amount of time you waste struggling to get up and down ladders, through doorways and getting lost. Up on the top level was the aircraft deck and a bunch of planes on display too.

Last chance to enjoy the open space.

I'm on a boat.

Cockpit was crazy uncomfortable. I'd be reaching for the ejector switch.

Celtics plane.

Camo plane.

Whatever the thing up the top is called.

That top thing, with all the flags.

Walked down to the Embarcadero Marina area next, just a park and marina area really, which leads around to the San Diego Convention Centre and Petco Park (home of the San Diego Padres). At first the stadium looked odd and not like a stadium at all, but once you get around to the back you realise it's pretty great. They haven't closed off the outfield with a big wall or stands, so you can see right into the stadium (although they don't allow that during the game) and watch the teams away games on a big screen from this small park.

San Diego Convention Center.

Petco Park.

A park behind Petco Park.